Are you interested in cybersecurity? Have you wanted to learn offensive cyber techniques  but don't know where to get started? The Applied Cybersecurity team is hosting an introductory workshop to get people going with practicing exploitation and offensive cyber techniques in an ethical setting. In particular, we will focus on gaining familiarity with techniques used for competing in Capture the Flag (CTF)* competitions. We'll be hosting the first workshop this Friday, in preparation for the Hitcon CTF next week. Bring a laptop! This workshop will assume no prerequisite experience with hacking or cybersecurity so please attend regardless of how unfamiliar you are with the topic. For this workshop, we will focus on web vulnerabilities, binary reversing, and some basic cryptography challenges. Note that experience equivalent to CS107 will be useful. Food will be provided! RSVP here: https://goo.gl/forms/M5yzuQasIZpL4Ovy1

Abstract: The U.S. government continues to struggle with how best to defend the country from cyber attacks. Reacting out in frustration, Senator John McCain wondered aloud if the United States should consider what lessons can be learned from a new cyber defense organization in the United Kingdom called the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC). In this paper, Stuart Russell and Michael Sulmeyer examine the NCSC, its origins, its missions, and its effectiveness. They then consider how certain aspects of the NCSC might map onto the more complicated governance structure around cyber defense in the United States. Despite important differences between the United Kingdom and the United States, they conclude that there is a great deal the United States can adapt from the United Kingdom’s efforts, particularly the NCSC’s ambitious Active Defense agenda. 

Speaker Bio: Dr. Michael Sulmeyer is the Belfer Center's Cyber Security Project Director at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is also a Contributing Editor for the national security blog Lawfare. Before Harvard, he served as the Director for Plans and Operations for Cyber Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. There, he worked closely with the Joint Staff and Cyber Command on a variety of efforts to counter malicious cyber activity against U.S. and DoD interests. For this work, he received the Secretary Medal for Exceptional Public Service.

Previously, he worked on arms control and the maintenance of strategic stability between the United States, Russia, and China. As a Marshall Scholar, Sulmeyer received his PhD (DPhil) in Politics from Oxford University, and his dissertation, "Money for Nothing: Understanding the Termination of U.S. Major Defense Acquisition Programs," won the Sir Walter Bagehot Prize for best dissertation in government and public administration. He received his B.A. and J.D. from Stanford University and his M.A. in War Studies from King's College London. In the mid-1990s, he was the System Operator (SysOp) of The Summit BBS in Santa Barbara, California.

Abstract: What is the strategic value of cyber weapons? Even though a growing body of research has addressed the destructive potential of cyber weapons, there remains a large gap in thinking about the strategic utility of these capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to partially fill this gap, by means of assessing under what conditions 'counterforce’ and ‘countervalue’ cyber weapons can be effective. I argue that cyber weapons can provide an ‘extra option’ to leaders. The discussed cases suggest that they can be used both as an important force-multiplier enabler for conventional military assets or as independent capability. Cyber weapons can also be used to achieve a form of psychological ascendancy and can be used effectively with few casualties.

Speaker Bio: Max Smeets is a cybersecurity fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and holds a DPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford, St. John’s College. Max current book project focuses on the causes underlying cyber proliferation and restraint. The results of this research are valuable for understanding the likely changes in the future prevalence of cyber weapons. It clarifies to what degree this is an ‘inevitable’ development – and if/how it can be stopped.

Max was a College Lecturer in Politics at Keble College, University of Oxford, and Research Affiliate of the Oxford Cyber Studies Programme. He was also a Carnegie Visiting Scholar at Columbia University SIPA and a Doctoral Visiting Scholar at Sciences Po CERI. He holds an undergraduate degree from University College Roosevelt, Utrecht University, and an M.Phil in International Relations from the University of Oxford, Brasenose College.  Max has a diverse professional background, having worked for financial, political, and non-governmental organizations.

Michael McFaul, Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Professor Political Science

and FSI Senior Fellow, Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution

Francis Fukuyama, Mosbacher Director, Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law,

Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow at FSI and the Hoover Insitution

Eileen Donahoe, Executive Director, Global Digital Policy Incubator

Cordially Invite you to a conference conmemorating the launch of the 

Global Digital Policy Incubator

Friday, October 6, 2017

Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall

Registration / Coffee / Meet the Speakers

9:30-10:00am

Welcome to the Global Digital Policy Incubator

10:00-10:015am

When Freedom of Expression Conflicts with Democracy

Enhancing the Quality of Discourse Necessary to Sustain Democracy                  10:15-11:45am

Moderator: Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and FSI

Timothy Garton Ash, Hoover Institution, Stanford, Oxford University & Free Speech Debate

Francis Fukuyama, Director, Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Stanford

Brittan Heller, Director of Technology & Society, Anti-Defamation League

Ieva Kupce Ilves, Cybersecurity expert, former head of Cybersecurity Policy, MoD Latvia

Justine Isola, Product Policy Manager at Facebook

When Information Becomes the Weapon

Expanding notions of National Security in the Digital Context                                 12:00-1:45pm

​Moderator: Michael Mcfaul, Director of FSI, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia

Toomas Ilves, Former President of Estonia

Mike Brown, Presidential Innovation Fellow, DIUX, Fformer CEO Symantec

Denis McDonough, White House Chief of Staff to former President Obama, Senior Principle, Markle Foundation

Nicole Wong, former U.S. Deputy CTO, former Google Vice President & Deputy General Counsel,

former Legal Director of Product, Twitter

Digital Platforms and Democratic Responsibility

Emerging Private Sector Roles in Protecting Freedom and Security                       2:00-3:30pm

Moderator: Larry Kramer, President of the Hewlett Foundation 

Juniper Downs, Global Head of Public Policy and Government Relations, Youtube

Daphne Keller, Director of Intermediary Liability, Center for Internet & Society, Stanford Law School

Andrew McLaughlin, Co-Founder, Higher Ground Labs, Venter Partner, Betaworks, former U.S. Dep. CTO

Nick Pickles, Senior Public Policy Manager, Twitter

Mike Posner, Director, NYU Stern Center for Business & Human Rights, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

Keynote Conversation 

Digital Technology, Diplomacy, and Democratic Values                                                     

Former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton

In conversation with Eileen Donahoe, Executive Director of the Global Digital Policy Incubator,

former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council

4:30 - 5:30pm

Cemex Auditorium, Knight Management Center

*event by invitation only, doors open at 3:30pm, guests must be in their seats 4:15pm*

Ticket Lottery for (Stanford students only) will open Wednesday, September 27 through the

Stanford Ticket Office